Another Benefit to Ride Reports

[hppants]

I started writing ride reports cause I thought the concept was so cool. I completely enjoy reading about other people's adventures, and wanted to share my own trips. I also presumed that maybe it would encourage other riders to be more adventurous on their bikes, even in their own backyard. As I got a little more experienced in it, the ride report gave me a chance to write a little and admittedly, that has turned out to be fun too.

But I've recently identified a new plus to the ride report.

My parents are both 72. They are both retired and thoroughly enjoying what I call Life's Triology - time, health, and money. They have never understood why I ride a motorcycle and quite frankly, since my return to the activity in 2009, I have never tried to explain it. At my current age, I don't owe them an explanation and I figured, like many things, we'd just agree to disagree.

About 2 months ago, I decided to reach out and I sent my mother an email with a URL link to a ride report I wrote. A couple weeks later, she wrote me a very heartfelt note. She and my father had read most of my ride reports and although they still worry, they absolutely get it now.

If I'm being honest, I guess even at 48, one never really outgrows a desire for their parents' approval.

Stay thirsty, my friends.

 

[El Toro Joe]

That's great.

I think if my mom was still around, she would get it too.

 

[luvtoride]

My mom hates that I ride... but she does get it & doesn't give me hell about it because she knows that I find so much joy in it.

 

[BikerGeek99]

My dad rides. He and my step-mom have read many of my ride reports and they appreciate 'em.

Mom? Well, all I'll say here is she's my mom, I love her, she feeds the cats while we're away, and she's on dial-up.

 

[LKLD]

When I told my mother, I thought I was going to get a riot act on all the dangers of riding a motorcycle, but instead, she said how wonderful it was that I had an outlet for life's challenges and tribulations. Blew me away!

My wife, on the other hand, was a totally different outcome.

I really like reading ride reports, and one day will try doing one myself. Those of you who do them....thank you!

 

[gixxerjasen]

Every time I do a ride my dad wants to know when I'm going to post the ride report. He doesn't ride but he enjoys reading them. Heck, he doesn't just read mine, from time to time I shoot him a good one I've found and he'll enjoy those too and wants me to send them to him.

After years of thinking I wasn't a blogger I realized that a ride report is a blog of sorts. Opened a blogger account and now my ride reports go there too. That's mainly for dad since he sometimes can't see the RR due to needing to log into X forum. It's a nice place for him to go to that he doesn't have to be a member of.

 

[BkerChuck]

One of the things that I like about reading the reports is the opportunity to discover places I may not have considered going to see. My wife and I now read them constantly and have reconsidered vacation plans to try some of your backyards. My mom will be 85 next month and still hates that I ride. I had a great-uncle who rode back in the day and I used to love sitting close to him and hearing him tell the same old tales. He crossed the US back in the late 1930's on a 1937 Indian Scout. I'll forever remember him telling me of seeking shelter under a bridge late one night and being awakened in the early morning hours by the train that was now passing only a few feet above his head raining down ash and soot all over him and his bike. I truly miss him and wish he were around for me to tell my stories. Towards his last months I used to ride down to the nursing home and have him come outside and look at whatever bike I was on at the time.

Someday soon I'll have to start contributing ride reports of my own so that just maybe some of you may enjoy the sights I've seen.

Thanks you all for inviting us along for the rides.

 

[gixxerjasen]

One of the things that I like about reading the reports is the opportunity to discover places I may not have considered going to see.

This! It's also good to read up and find those places to eat or stay at. Also, as in RH's ride west, those places to avoid.

 

[puppychow]

I have had the same experience as related by the OP hppants. I am sure my parents worry about my riding a motorcycle, but they realize I am a grown-up (OK, debatable if I am, but let's just assume that I am, OK?), and have never pressed those concerns upon me. They check my blog several times a month to see where I have been to next and look at what pictures I am taking or pictures of parts of the country they had never seen before. I usually send them my SPOT tracker when I leave on a long ride, and tell them what would be the best time(s) to watch, and when they can, they try to follow along on Google Street View, so they can share the sights that I am seeing at the same time.

 

[gixxerjasen]

Funny, my mom wasn't happy about me buying a motorcycle. I brought it to the house and she looked at it and said "It's much bigger than I thought it would be, I guess it's not so bad."

WTF?

I've taken both mom and dad for rides on the bike. Dad was super freaked out when I did and said it was the scaredest he's ever been. Last week he asked if I was going to trailer my bike out when we come to see them at my sister's in north Georgia. Says he wants me to take him on the bike on some of the roads out there.

WTF?

 

[Redfish Hunter]

Since I learned to ride because of my Dad and I still ride because of my Dad, my situation is somewhat different. My Dad loves the fact that our adventures are so well received on this forum and that my RRs are somewhat popular. He is always astonished when reading the feedback from you guys in my RRs. In fact he has become very helpful during the ride with selecting locations for pictures. He is not only patient with me while I try for the perfect shot, he encourages me to do it properly. He has asked me many times, "Don't you need a picture of this for your forum?" That kind of support makes it easy to do a good job.

Of all the things I have learned and gained from reading the RRs of others, the friendships that started because of my sappy words and mediocre photos are the most important.

Excellent thread 'pants.

 

[dcarver]

I actually got my Pops to ride bitch on a CB750 Honda. I was 17. Can't believe it even now, as we went well past 100 miles on the day. Priceless memory. That one time was the only time. Celebrate the only times.

 

[HotRodZilla]

My mom used to ride dirt bikes. She wants me to be careful, but accepts that Patch and I ride. My dad was always very wary of them, but his only ride EVER was on the back of a crazy person's bike in Mexico City. He never discouraged us either. Honestly, it would have been hypocritical for him to put me on a 2000lb roping horse but complain about a motorcycle. Both parents thought it was cool when my girls started riding.

Parents love us and worry. Just like we do with our kids. So even though my dad has passed, I love my mom back and tell her I'll be careful. BTW, being an ATGATT guy makes her worry less.

 

[WRThumper]

I don't remember ever hearing my mother say anything about me riding. But then, it was the parents who started us kids trail riding back in the '70's. If my dad were still around I think he would enjoy the RR's. One of the things he got me for graduating college (at 31) was a set of new tires for my 750 Seca (he also got me a brief case, which do you think I was more excited about?!). He was a biker from his high school days. Picture greased duck tail hair, a cig hanging out of the corner of his mouth, the pack in a rolled up t-shirt sleeve. Rode a HD, or as he told it, pushed it more than rode it. In '74 he bought a Honda CL125S to commute to work on. A 220 lb man on a 12 hp mc riding from Port Orchard to Bremerton in shipyard traffic, not my idea of fun!

 

[Shane]

My ride report about a BBG last Fall turned out to be the single best relationship-building thing between my Dad's Widow and me in over two years.

She laughed so hard that she couldn't see the screen between the tears, and couldn't stop talking about it later on the phone with me.

Who knew?

My guess is that a good ride report can have some of the same benefit as a road trip with someone...who you really are comes through, and through our words they actually share a real experience with us somehow. And, because all the hard work is over (and the bad weather, delays, tiredness, etc...) by the time they read it, only the good feelings remain now that everyone is home safe and sound.

All the best,

Shane

 

[majicmaker]

My mom passed away long ago. She would've hated me riding. When I was 19, I was days away from buying my first bike with my own money. Out of panic, she put a set of keys to a brand new (to me) 1967 Ford Falcon telling me that my girlfriend would like 4 wheels much better. I took the keys and she was right about my girlfriend wanting to keep her hairdo intact.

My dad is still with us and he loves my FJR. He sits on it and wants me to take a picture of him on it to show to his friends when he visits. My wife back in the day absolutely didn't want me to have a bike. As a rational adult at the time, I agreed that having a family with a young son, they needed me more than I needed a bike. Fast forward to many years later. The son is grown and the wife needed to go be single. WIN/WIN FOR ME!!!! I saw the '06AE in the Ultimate Motorcycling magazine and it was love at first sight. I will ride until I take my last breath. Riding my bike makes me happier than Airplanes do, and that's a bold statement because airplanes have been the love of my life since I was 5!!! )

 

[hppants]

Well, sometimes we take one step forward and one step back.

Sunday, my family was scheduled to meet my parents for church and dinner afterwards. About 30 minutes before church, my mother calls my cell phone. Instantly, I can tell something's wrong. "We won't be able to meet you today, there's been an accident."

Turns out an idiot pirate ran a red light at considerable speed (based on the length of the skid mark, followed by the length of the "scrape mark" from the chrome sliding down the road) and t-boned my parents. The idiot was transported to a local hospital, but was moving all extremities and talking when he left, so I'm hopeful he will make a full recovery.

My parents were unharmed, but now my mother is clearly worried about me. At the scene, I showed her clearly how this happened. The idiot had MORE than enough land to stop. If I just start at the beginning of the skid mark and measure to the point of impact, then assume he was going 60 mph in a 50 mph zone (likely not), and then IGNORE any distance for reaction, he could have stopped with room to spare. But the idiot did what we all do - he applied what he trains himself on every day he rides to his "emergency procedure". Just in his case, his normal was stupid. He probably rides the rear brake normally everyday because his front wheel is so large and so raked out, he can't control the bike when he brakes with the front tire, which we all know is what ACTUALLY stops the bike. So he stomped on the rear, it locked up, he fish tailed, low-sided (or "laid it down" if you prefer more exotic terms), and he and his bike slid down the belt sander until Newton's 3rd law was finished with him.

I explained this to my mom. I also told her that there are about 10 other factors that, if it were me riding, would have made a difference including:

- ATGATT

- I would have never been riding anywhere near there at that time - too much traffic for my taste.

- I would never have been riding there at that speed, way too dangerous for conditions.

- I would have never been in that lane at that time (center lane toward the center for better visibility)

- I would have never been (fill in the blank)

bla bla bla

I think that just scared her.

I've got to re-think this a bit more.

 

[Redfish Hunter]

'Pants, your mom is doing what good moms do. She is worrying about her baby. It does not matter that you are old enough to have grandkids yourself, your mom will always worry. Motorcycles make moms worry. You can apply all the logic you want, you could have the debating skills of a world class trial lawyer and you will not prevent her from worrying.

You have made mistakes and you have learned from them. You are smart enough that you have learned from the mistakes of others as well. You will find a way to calm Mom's fears. One of the few things better than a great motorcycle ride is the unconditional love of Mom. Be grateful you still have that.

 

[ionbeam]

'Pants, your mom is doing what good moms do. She is worrying about her baby. It does not matter that you are old enough to have grandkids yourself, your mom will always worry. Motorcycles make moms worry. You can apply all the logic you want, you could have the debating skills of a world class trial lawyer and you will not prevent her from worrying...

My parents firmly believe that if you ride a motorcycle you are going to die, probably sooner than later, but death is a certain outcome 100% of the time. Add to that, my mother is a World Class Worrier, she could probably take home the gold in a worry competition. I hadn't told my parents I had a motorcycle until my brother outed me when I was in my 50's. Now when I talk with my mother on the phone, it always starts, "I lay awake at night worrying about you..." Sons will never be old enough to stop being their mother's little boy

Now that they know I ride a motorcycle I have tried to share the hundreds of pictures we have of the places we have visited and the things we have seen. All my mother sees are the spots where it seems we would be likely to crash. And that's why I post pictures here instead of sharing them with my family